COURSE of the MONTH

Call Manager Express - Small Configuration Issues

Experts,

This isn`t an emergency by any means... BUT it is very annoying. :)

I have a 2600xm router configured with CME 3.3. In this setup, I have one of the voice cards, with some FXO ports, that I receive incoming calls, through the automated attendant. Everything works great as configured...

Except - sometimes when an external line attempts to connect through the system, but the external POTS phone disconnects before the IP phone user picks up - the IP phone will ring FOREVER - until the IP phone is taken off-hook.

If that makes sense. Like in this example... A user in POTS calls the business number after hours. Nobody inside the network picks up the phone. But it continues to ring, continually - until users come to work in the morning and off-hook their phones.

Is there any way to limit the number of rings on inbound phone calls from POTS, prior to simply disconnecting them?

Also, when I park a call in one of the slots, I have 5001, 5002, and 5003 as park slots... When a call is parked there - I get busy signals when I try to pick up the call from any internal phone.

Who is Participating?

> Is there a way to implement that command "timeouts call-disconnect 45" on voip-to-voip calls? - Instead of on the interface of the FXO port?
Unfortunately this command only applies to analog ports.
BTW have you tried to set call-disconnect timeout to 1 second? ( Unfortunately sometimes it is try and learn with the FXO)
A few more points>
Make sure you configured "cptone jp" on your analog ports.
Verify the phone wire polarity is correct. If debug vpm signal command outputs NO_TIP_GROUND that means the polarity of the RJ-11 cables is mismatched. Human speech is not affected by polarity mismatches, but it can cause disconnect supervision issues.

timeouts call-disconnect
Specifies the timeout value for releasing an FXO voice port when an incoming call is not answered.
Your configured value of 0 tells the router to ring the phone forever as it disables disconnect supervision. Try changing it to a normal value like 60.

Evaluating a UTM appliance and vendor can prove to be an overwhelming exercise. How can you make sure that you're getting the security that your organization needs without breaking the bank? Check out our UTM Buyer's Guide for more information on what you should be looking for!

Your park-slot config is correct (you can't make mistakes there anyway).
When you park a call, the park number should be displayed on the phone. And you dial that number from another phone to pick up the parked call. Does the parked number display correctly on the reception phone?

My automated attendent phone line is 5999. When a call comes in over POTS - and then directed via the automated setup, the IP phones show that the call is coming from that DN.

If the IP phone does not pickup before the POTS phone disconnects, it will stop ringing after a few seconds... wait for about 10-15 then ring again continuously until the phone is picked up. On the phone display, it shows a call from the automated 5999 number.

Of course when the user finally does pick up the IP phone, the call immediately disconnects, since the POTS user is no longer calling.

--------------------

On the call parking problem. I will test pickup via another phone when I have a second, but from what I"m noticing, is the user that parked the call - is the one receiving the busy signal when they try to dial the parked number.

Is this by design then? Just wondering.

Thanks for all the assistance so far. Playing with phones makes me wanna' drop my routing and switching path and get through the voice certs. :)

>My automated attendent phone line is 5999. When a call comes in over POTS - and then directed via the automated setup, the IP phones show that the call is coming from that DN.

It seems the callerid does not work well on your FXO. Have you asked your carrier to deliver Caller ID on this line? You can verify it by connecting an ordinary phone to one of your external lines.
Callerid can be delivered by using a few different methods like FSK, DTMF etc. It also depends on the country you live in. Fox example in Australia only an FXO M3 type card can collect the callerid. This is an old technology pushed to its limits, and getting it working and doing advanced stuff required a lot of try and learn.http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/routers/ps274/products_tech_note09186a00800b53c7.shtml

>If the IP phone does not pickup before the POTS phone disconnects, it will stop ringing after a few seconds... wait for about 10-15 then ring again continuously until the phone is picked up.
Hmm this is a strange behaviour. I am suspecting either a conflicting supervision message (for answer, disconnect) or some other issue that is causing your auto attendant script to regenerate the call when caller hangs up. Have you tried to turn on debugs for autoattendant calls and try to see what triggers the second ring?
Troubleshooting FXO is a real challenge. Because of that reason most people go with ISDN BRI which allows you to use DID, and troubleshooting is much easier because of its standardised digital Q931 protocol. Unless this is a very expensive option, I would suggest you to consider switching over to ISDN BRI.

I'm in Japan, using NTT's fiber plan. - And have spent many many many troubleshooting nights on their ADSL v2 crap that couldn't train with ANY of my cisco equipment (HWIC, WIC-1ADSL, etc). I noticed on your link that Japan isn't mentioned either. I do have the VIC-2FXO card in a NM-2V on my 2620xm.

The caller ID issue that you mentioned is almost guaranteed that they use some proprietary protocol on their SIP implementation. (The FXO port is plugged into a VOIP box supplied by them). - And that's how I get my external calls. Everything works great, with the exception of what I've been mentioning above.

Grabbing another ISP (ISDN BRI) option currently is out of the way - (already spending past the budgeted amount to keep things operational this year).

Is there a way to implement that command "timeouts call-disconnect 45" on voip-to-voip calls? - Instead of on the interface of the FXO port?

Again, thanks for giving me all this information. It's much appreciated.